Carlsbad Caverns. Photo by Carla DeMarco

Carlsbad was originally christened Eddy about 1888 with a bottle of champagne. Long before that, around 25,000 B.C., its occupants were representatives of Sandia Man. Other nomadic hunters, including the Apache, followed hunting buffalo. Spanish explorers were next until the conquest by the United States which resulted in the Territory of New Mexico about 1850.

Western Texas cattlemen Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving in 1866 drove herds of cattle to sell in New Mexico and Colorado. They followed the Pecos River and forded it to go north at what is now Guadalupe Street in Carlsbad. The drovers observed the good cow country, began building adobe cabins and became pioneer ranchers.

Eddy was made the county seat in 1889, and farming activity flourished in the early 1890s. It collapsed, however, when the Pecos River flooded, ruining irrigation ditches, railroad tracks and dams. Pioneer ranchers began to move away. The next to arrive were hundreds of tubucular patients who lived in tents in this semi-arid climate.

The Eddy House, one of the first in Eddy, (Carlsbad). Photo by Phyllis Eileen Banks.

In 1899 the name Eddy was changed to Carlsbad to emphasize the water flowing from a mineral spring, already called Carlsbad Springs. An aqueduct, "The Flume," originally built of wood but rebuilt of concrete following the 1902 flood, is an elaborate irrigation system that carries Pecos River water from Lake Avalon across the river.

With the arrival of the railroad in 1891, the sheep and cattle market opened. Cotton and alfalfa were soon major crops. Potash was discovered in 1928 and drilling began in 1929. Soon production increased to hundreds of thousands of tons annually. That has tapered in recent years, and Carlsbad has become a major retirement area.

The city's fame is associated with Carlsbad Caverns, 20 miles south of Carlsbad. Discovered by James L. White in 1902, it did not flourish as a tourist attraction until 1920 when Carlsbad Caverns was designated a National Monument.

At an elevation of 3,100 feet, with only 15 1/2 inches of rain and 350 days of sunshine, Carlsbad is both fertile valley and desert. The Pecos River provides an oasis for the 25,000 people who live here. Flowing through the center of town and flanking the river's banks is a 4.5 mile Riverwalk. Fishers, boat docks and water skiing abound. A paddlewheel boat, the George Washington, plies the river for a 40 minute ride.

During the Christmas season, homes on both sides of the river are elaborately decorated and viewable by boat tours via the tourist attraction, "Christmas on the Pecos."

There are 28 parks plus swimming pools, lakes, golf courses, tennis courts, library, museums and art galleries for leisure and culture. Almost within city limits is Living Desert State Park just off U. S. Highway 285. Farther north on the same highway is Brantley Lake with a turnoff to the southwest on State Highway 137 leading to Sitting Bull Falls and the Guadalupe Mountains.